World of Outlaws

Williams Grove report 97-07-31

Kinser Makes Late Pass, Wins Williams Grove Prelim By Richard Day MECHANICSBURG, PA (July 31) - Mark Kinser capitalized on the misfortunes of Cris Eash and Sammy Swindell to win the Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series ...

Edited: May 8, 2001, 12:19 PM

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Kinser Makes Late Pass, Wins Williams Grove Prelim By Richard Day MECHANICSBURG, PA (July 31) - Mark Kinser capitalized on the misfortunes of Cris Eash and Sammy Swindell to win the Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series Preliminary Feature at Williams Grove Speedway Thursday. "We had a little luck here tonight," Kinser admitted in victory lane. "The dominoes just fell our way." Actually, it was mud packing the right rear wheels on Eash's and Swindell's sprinters that allowed Kinser to lead the final two laps and claim his third World of Outlaws Preliminary Feature victory of the year. "We had some trouble early, but I thought we got things straightened out to where we could be in the top four," Mark said. "The red flag (during the 19th lap) helped us. We put a setup on the car that let us stay off the cushion. After Eash dropped out, I could see that Sammy had a packed right rear and I knew we had a shot at it. I was starting to wonder if we were going to make it at all. It was just a lot of good luck on our side and a lot of bad luck for the other teams." Kinser and the #5M Wirtgen Maxim appeared to be the class of the field early, pacing the qualifying session with a 17.359- second lap. Mark was rewarded for the effort with his 24th Channellock Fast-Time Award of the season. Kinser picked the #4 inversion pill, then followed Paul McMahan, Cris Eash, Lance Dewease and Sammy Swindell across the finish line in the Vivarin Dash. Eash, the World of Outlaws' 1987 Rookie of the Year, took the high line through turn four to take the lead as the green fell in the Preliminary Feature. McMahan, a 1997 Rookie of the Year candidate, battled Eash for the lead during the first three laps. Eash opened a half-straightaway advantage as Swindell challenged McMahan for the second place during laps four and five. Sammy passed McMahan as the leaders entered lapped traffic the next time around. In his haste to catch Swindell, McMahan allowed the #75 Mopar Stealth to turn over in turn three. Dewease, the defending Williams Grove National Open champion, challenged Greg Hodnett for third place as the green flag replaced the yellow. He was still battling Hodnett when a mechanical problem in the #47 Casey's General Stores Maxim caused Third Heat Race winner Johnny Herrera to stop in turn four late in the eighth lap. Dewease surrendered fourth place when he was pushed into the pit area to have mud removed from his right rear wheel during the caution period. Eash raced away from the field as the race resumed, only to have Swindell catch him the next time around. At the same time, Steve Kinser challenged Hodnett for third place. Mark started making his way toward the front midway through the race. He passed cousin Steve with a high move into turn four late in lap 13, then took the low line through lapped traffic in the second corner to pass Hodnett for third place two laps later. Eash's right rear wheel was packed with mud when Swindell caught him with four laps remaining. Sammy passed Eash the next time around, only to have his #1 Channellock Gambler start handling erratically as mud filled his right rear wheel. Eash crashed into the inside retaining wall on the back straightaway midway through the 19th lap, setting up a two-lap dash to the checkered flag. Swindell restarted at the front of the field, with two lapped cars separating him from Mark. Steve Kinser steered his #11 Quaker State Maxim to the lowest point in turn three to pass Hodnett for third place as the green flag replaced the red. Mark passed both backmarkers quickly, then used an inside move in the fourth corner to pass Swindell for the lead. "The King of the Outlaws" passed Swindell in turn four as Sammy struggled to keep his sprinter under control during the final lap. Swindell and Hodnett finished third and fourth, respectively, to claim the second two automatic qualifying positions in Friday's Vivarin Dash. Dave Blaney raced into fifth place from inside the sixth row. Completing the top 10 were Jac Haudenschild, Andy Hillenburg, Stevie Smith, Billy Pauch and Fred Rahmer. Steve Kinser and Blaney survived scary incidents in their heat races, but that didn't deter them from qualifying for the feature. Kinser was racing in third place during the third lap of the First Heat Race when debris knocked his face shield open and bloodied his nose. "The King of the Outlaws" promptly went to the pit area, strapped on a new helmet and raced into fifth place from the back of the pack. Blaney was also in qualifying position during the second lap of the Third Heat Race when debris cut his left eye and almost caused it to swell shut. After receiving minimal medical attention, "The Buckeye Bullet" restarted the race at rear of the field and raced into fifth place. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment after the Preliminary Feature. WoO 1997 Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA Thursday, July 31, Preliminary Program Qualifications: 1. Mark Kinser, Kinser 5M, 17.359; 2. Lance Dewease, Dyer 461, 17.584; 3. Cris Eash, E&G Classics 17E, 17.660; 4. Paul McMahan, Stanton 75, 17.733; 5. Steve Kinser, Kinser 11, 17.744; 6. Sammy Swindell, Swindell 1, 17.767; 7. Andy Hillenburg, Hillenburg 2, 17.779; 8. Greg Hodnett, Helm 11H, 17.810; 9. Jac Haudenschild, Elden 22, 17.819; 10. Stevie Smith, Smith 19, 17.835; 11. Dave Blaney, Blaney/Hylton 10, 17.848; 12. Billy Pauch, Zemaitis 1Z, 18.019; 13. Don Kreitz, Jr., Kreitz 69K, 18.055; 14. Garry Brazier, Brazier 1AU, 18.095; 15. Craig Dollansky, Wahlie 1W, 18.100; 16. Fred Rahmer, Hamilton 77, 18.128; 17. Todd Shaffer, Beam 88, 18.177; 18. Mike Wagner, Wagner 55, 18.190; 19. Johnny Herrera, Sonner 47, 18.217; 20. Jeff Swindell, Two Winners 7TW, 18.257; 21. Kevin Gobrecht, Apple 12, 18.262; 22. Dion Hindi, Hindi 11D, 18.370; 23. Donny Schatz, Schatz 15, 18.409; 24. Jeff Shepard, Shuttlesworth 41, 18.418; 25. Len Thompson, Thompson 10T, 18.438; 26. Joe Gaerte, Gaerte 3G, 18.610; 27. Brian Paulus, P&P Motorsports 28, 18.638; 28. Dave Haight, Tanger 07, 18.708; 29. Lance Blevins, Blevins 21, 18.712; 30. Shawn Keen, Keen 53, 18.742; 31. Jess Thomas, Thomas 77T, 19.181; 32. Troy Fraker, Fraker 12W, 19.456; 33. Bobby Allen, Allen 1a, no time. First Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Jac Haudenschild, 2. Kevin Gobrecht, 3. Don Kreitz, Jr., 4. Mark Kinser, 5. Steve Kinser, 6. Todd Shaffer, 7. Len Thompson, 8. Lance Blevins. DNS - Bobby Allen. (first five qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Second Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Garry Brazier, 2. Stevie Smith, 3. Lance Dewease, 4. Dion Hindi, 5. Sammy Swindell, 6. Joe Gaerte, 7. Mike Wagner, 8. Shawn Keen. 2:30.3 (first five qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Third Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Johnny Herrera, 2. Andy Hillenburg, 3. Donny Schatz, 4. Cris Eash, 5. Dave Blaney, 6. Brian Paulus, 7. Craig Dollansky, 8. Jess Thomas. (first five qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Fourth Heat Race (eight laps): 1. Jeff Swindell, 2. Billy Pauch, 3. Paul McMahan, 4. Fred Rahmer, 5. Greg Hodnett, 6. Jeff Shepard, 7. Dave Haight, 8. Troy Fraker. 2:32.8 (first five qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Vivarin Dash (five laps): 1. Paul McMahan, 2. Cris Eash, 3. Lance Dewease, 4. Sammy Swindell, 5. Mark Kinser, 6. Greg Hodnett, 7. Andy Hillenburg, 8. Steve Kinser. 1:31.9 (finish determined the first eight starting positions in the Preliminary Feature) B Feature (12 laps): 1. Mike Wagner, 2. Jeff Shepard, 3. Craig Dollansky, 4. Joe Gaerte, 5. Todd Shaffer ($150); 6. Len Thompson ($125); 7. Dave Haight ($100); 8. Brian Paulus ($75); 9. Troy Fraker ($60); 10. Jess Thomas ($50); 11. Lance Blevins ($40). 3:54.0 (first four qualified for the Preliminary Feature) Preliminary Feature (20 laps): 1. Mark Kinser ($4,500); 2. Steve Kinser ($2,500); 3. Sammy Swindell ($1,700); 4. Greg Hodnett ($1,500); 5. Dave Blaney ($1,350); 6. Jac Haudenschild ($1,250); 7. Andy Hillenburg ($1,200); 8. Stevie Smith ($1,100); 9. Billy Pauch ($1,075); 10. Fred Rahmer ($1,050); 11. Garry Brazier ($1,000); 12. Don Kreitz, Jr. ($800); 13. Craig Dollansky ($720); 14. Lance Dewease ($630); 15. Johnny Herrera ($400); 16. Joe Gaerte ($420); 17. Kevin Gobrecht ($300); 18. Donny Schatz ($300); 19. Mike Wagner ($320); 20. Paul McMahan ($300); 21. Dion Hindi ($300); 22. Cris Eash ($300); 23. Jeff Shepard ($320); 24. Jeff Swindell ($300). Lap leaders: Cris Eash 1-18, Mark Kinser 19-20 Channellock Fast-Time Award winner: Mark Kinser WoO

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